GRAND RAPIDS -- An elderly Alzheimer's patient begged her children to remove her from a Gaines Township assisted living facility, where a 21-year-old worker targeted her with abuse ranging from soakings to shoe throwing, according to testimony Monday in Kent County Circuit Court.

"Something was really concerning her; I would say it was fear,'' the woman's son John Meyering testified Monday. "She didn't want to be there anymore.''

Investigators say Malone was a resident assistant at Life House Crystal Springs, an assisted living facility on 68th Street SE between Eastern and Kalamazoo avenues, from March 2014 to August 2014. During that time, he allegedly threw shoes and water at the woman who lived in the facility and repeatedly called her phone.

Jurors heard a recorded message the Hudsonville woman left on her son's answering machine: "I have to get out or I'm going to be dead,'' she said. "Please call me back. Please. No matter what time.''

Her two sons testified that their mother started calling them at all hours, begging to be removed.

"I was getting three calls a week,'' son Daniel Meyering testified. "She would be extremely excited, scared. She even threatened to take me out of the will if I didn't get her out. The staff said 'that's just the Alzheimer's talking.' ''

The family decided to put her in an assisted living home after she was unable to cook for herself. When she first arrived at Life House Crystal Springs in fall 2013, she socialized with others, played bingo and "said she liked it the first few months,'' Daniel Meyering testified.

But starting in late spring 2014, her demeanor changed and calls became more frequent and urgent, her sons testified.

"Please get me out of here. This man is hurting me,'' Daniel Meyering said, recalling phone conversations with his mother. "In August, my sister was told a lot of this stuff was true.''

The woman left the assisted living center in August 2014, but the fear remained for awhile, John Meyering said. "She talked about what had been happening to her,'' he testified. "She was trembling and acting like she was scared to death.''

Since her removal from Life House Crystal Springs, there have been no more frantic calls and she "has a much more calm demeanor,'' John Meyering told jurors.

If convicted of elder abuse, Malone, who is free on bond, faces up to four years in prison. Testimony is expected to resume Tuesday.